Less than four years after the killing of George Floyd sparked a national awakening to the inequities in the criminal justice system, political leaders across the country are returning to a tough-on-crime stance. In some cases, voters and lawmakers are choosing to reverse reforms passed years ago.
The city of San Francisco voted Tuesday to support two proposals that would strengthen police powers and require addiction treatment as a condition of welfare. Members of the D.C. Council also passed a public safety package on Tuesday that includes the reinstatement of “drug zones.”
Tuesday's vote followed moves to roll back reforms in Louisiana and Oregon.
“This is a stunning turnaround, especially after nationwide protests against a system that is too harsh,” said Adam Gelb, president and CEO of the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice think tank. Especially right after that.”
While a 50-year pattern of reforms and restrictions may make it seem like we're reverting to highly punitive policies, Gelb says that's not the whole story.
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“I think it's very unlikely that we'll ever fully go back to the idea that we can arrest people and punish them and get them to a place of safety.”
Podcast excerpt:Crime statistics show improvement. Why do so many people believe it could never have been this bad?
Decades of pendulum swings have led to reforms over the past 15 years
Gelb said the pendulum-like pattern of swinging between restrictions and reforms began as early as the '60s, when a wave of reforms led to a spike in crime in the '70s. The fissure crisis arrived in the 1980s, and “a period of tough times” arrived, Gelb said. Over the next 30 years, mandatory sentencing, a boom in prison development, and tougher drug enforcement tactics caused the prison population to skyrocket.
During this time, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 was signed by President Bill Clinton. The Brennan Center for Justice considers it one of the most comprehensive federal crime bills in history with a “complex” legacy of public service. Imprisonment.
In the United States, which has the highest per capita incarceration rate in the world, one in 31 adults was in the correctional system by 2007, according to a 2010 Congressional report.
Efforts to reduce these populations have received bipartisan support, as evidenced by the First Step Act of 2018, signed by former President Donald Trump and designed to reduce crime and improve criminal justice outcomes. But even before that, the Pew Trusts reported that between 2007 and 2017, more than 30 states passed laws to reduce prison populations, including Louisiana. .
Louisiana and Oregon rescind previous reforms that critics say have no effect on public safety
In an op-ed in the Shreveport Times, part of the USA TODAY Network, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry called the Louisiana Justice Reinvestment Act, signed by the former governor in 2017, a “crime-infested state.” '' he clearly condemned.
He launched a special legislative session on crime, including pushing through a bill passed in 2017 that would have repealed a law that allowed courts to prosecute 17-year-olds as young adults, the Plaquemine Post South newspaper reported. Ta.
Landry signed 19 bills last week, including expanding the use of the death penalty and reducing opportunities for parole and early release.
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Matthew Willard of New Orleans criticized some of the moves, saying they do nothing to stop crimes before they happen. The ACLU of Louisiana testified that it opposed the two bills because they would be costly and unlikely to reduce crime right now.
Similar concerns were raised in Oregon, where the House passed a bill repealing portions of Measure 110, a 2020 voter-approved measure to decriminalize drug possession. Critics of the new bill say the state's criminal justice system is already stretched to its limits and that recriminalization would disproportionately impact Black and Latino Oregonians, Statesman Journal The paper reported.
Tera Hurst, executive director of the Health Justice Restoration Alliance, also said it is ineffective at reducing today's crime rates.
San Francisco DC expands police powers through vote and Congress
San Francisco voters showed strong support for two measures put on the ballot by Democratic Mayor London Breed on Super Tuesday. She is seeking re-election in November, but her opponents say she has failed to control drug crimes, vandalism and theft, according to the Associated Press.
According to the Associated Press, Proposition E would give police greater agency by cutting red tape and expanding the use of drones. According to the Associated Press, Prop. F would require adult welfare recipients who use drugs to undergo treatment as a condition of receiving benefits.
Members of the DC Council just passed an omnibus bill that brings together several organizations. Public security The regulations were raised last year. According to the Washington Post, the Secure DC Omnibus Amendment Act includes the following provisions:
- Judges could find it easier to order some people detained while awaiting trial for violent crimes
- The definition of carjacking has been expanded to include more prosecutions.
- 'Organized retail theft' to be considered a new felony
- Establishing temporary “drug-free zones”, a revived 1990s tactic to combat drug-related loitering
Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser praised the bill in a statement Tuesday, saying, “We will not tolerate violence and we will not tolerate criminal acts that destroy our sense of safety and our ability to build thriving communities.” . The bill then heads to her desk for consideration in Congress.
However, the bill's passage prompted mixed reactions from the ACLU.
“While the amended Secure DC Act provides limited safeguards, it is insufficient to protect us from abuses of power,” ACLU-DC Policy Counsel Melissa Wasser said in a statement.
“It's a ratchet, not a pendulum.”
National data on crime rates is notoriously difficult to track, but statistics collected and analyzed from cities across the country show violent crime has spiked and property crime has declined during the pandemic. It has been. However, this data compiled by the CCJ suggests that most types of crime are returning to pre-pandemic levels.
Gelb said the target should actually be the recent low of 2014, before the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, further eroding public trust in police.
He also acknowledged that some policies that have emerged recently may be aimed at sending a message about tolerance for crime, rather than directly stopping crime, adding that a downward trend does not necessarily mean that people feel safe. He pointed out that he would not let them do so.
“I think this is about quality over quantity,” Gelb said. “Most people aren't familiar with statistics, but they know what they see and hear on the streets, with their friends, on social media. And the randomness, brazenness of some of these incidents suggests a culture of lawlessness. ”, the breakdown of behavioral norms and social standards. ”
Gelb also said that although this wave of tougher crime control may seem like the pendulum is swinging back. To that erahe doesn't think it will be that extreme.
“This is a ratchet. It's not a pendulum,” Gelb said. “They're not going back to their old ways. Rather than completely rejecting a balanced approach, they're paring down the most offensive parts and building things back up.”
Contributed by John Dupont, Post South.Diane Lugo, Salem Statesman Journal; Greg Hilburn, Shreveport Times. Jordy McCreary, USA TODAY
